Share this:

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp. sued FX Networks LLC and its studio affiliates to block their use of a logo the oil company says infringes on its interlocking XX logo.

“Exxon Mobil has invested many millions of dollars for more than four decades in advertising and promoting” the logo, David Beck, Exxon Mobil’s attorney, said in the filing today in Houston federal court.

FX Networks and its studio affiliates, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., started the FXX TV network last month with a logo featuring an interlocking XX design, according to the complaint.

The network refused to drop the interlocking Xs when the oil company requested the change, according to the complaint.

Exxon Mobil’s filing includes several citations to Internet postings in which viewers question whether there is a relationship between FXX and the world’s largest publicly traded oil company because of the similarities between the logos.

Exxon Mobil, based in Irving, Texas, is seeking a court order barring the network from using the design “and any other mark confusingly similar,” along with treble damages.

John Solberg, a spokesman for Los Angeles-based FX Networks, didn’t immediately reply to telephone or e-mail messages seeking comment on the suit.

The case is Exxon Mobil Corp. v. FX Networks LLC, 4:13-cv- 02906, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).

About Fuel Fix

FuelFix.com is your daily must-read source for news and analysis on the energy business. Anchored by business reporters at the Houston Chronicle and other Hearst newspapers, FuelFix incorporates blogs by energy experts, market updates, useful data and a real-time summary of the top ideas, hottest stories and latest news.